


Beep Beep, Fishboy

by squidbeaks



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, mer!richie, mermaid!richie, no pennywise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-02-15 04:56:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13023693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squidbeaks/pseuds/squidbeaks
Summary: Eddie Kaspbrak lived by the sea.Richie Tozier lived in the sea.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i havent written anything in a long time let alone a multichap fic so bear w me

Eddie Kaspbrak lived by the sea. He loved it, and could often be found sitting on a towel set up on the soft sand, staring into the endless blue. The waves rose and fell rhythmically, and Eddie found himself breathing to the beat of the tides. When the tide pulled to reveal a hidden world of tiny animals, he would pick up any discarded shells and colorful rocks, to his mother’s dismay. Sonia Kaspbrak hated when her son went to the tide pools. There was an extraordinary amount of bacteria and sharp rocks that could pierce his delicate skin, or at least that’s what she always told her Eddie-Bear when he came home with pocketfuls of sand dollars and snail shells. Eddie never listened. 

That morning, Eddie set up his seaside haven near the edge of an old, unused dock. The dock’s support beams were coated in barnacles and algae, and rose about a couple feet above the ocean surface. The water around the dock was a bit murky, tainted by years of oil-powered ships arriving and departing. It wasn’t a good place to watch the marine life, but it was a good spot for sitting back and reading without getting sand in his book after sudden gusts of wind.  
Eddie had picked up a random book from his shelf before leaving his house; some dystopian young adult novel. He wasn’t very engrossed or interested, but was nevertheless startled when a spray of saltwater hit him square in between his eyes. As the water dripped from his stunned face, he looked around for a perpetrator. There was no one else around that he could see. He could’ve sworn he heard a brief laugh nearby.  
“That wasn’t very nice, you know!” Eddie yelled to no one in particular. As if on cue, another spray of water hit him. A small splash came from the murky pool in front of the dock, as if something was escaping. Eddie leaned over the edge of the dock, hoping for a view of the suspect, but whatever it was had already left, and all Eddie Kaspbrak saw was a shadow dive into the depths below. 

The next day, Eddie returned to the dock, more cautious than the day before. His mom had been very upset after he came home, thinking he had gone swimming in the “virus-ridden ocean”. He looked around nervously, making sure he was “alone.”  
“Hey, um...” Eddie cleared his throat. “I’m that guy you sprayed with water yesterday, uh... I probably look really fucking stupid right now and I doubt that you’re even still here. But could you like, not do that again? My mom got really pissed-“ Eddie was cut off by a sudden, yet brief, stream of water that soaked his shirt. He heard the quiet laughing again.  
“This isn’t funny, asshole!” The laughter got louder and he could tell whoever was doing this thought it was fucking hilarious. Eddie sprinted to the end of the dock, and in a fit of anger, slammed his hand down into the water, hoping to grab onto the offender somehow. To the surprise of them both, Eddie had a fistful of hair in his hand and the laughing was quickly replaced by yelling (was it speaking..?) as Eddie’s wrist was grabbed by a pair of pale hands. He let out a shrill scream and let go, and so did whoever he had just latched onto. He backed down the dock, breath quick and heart racing. Hands shaking, Eddie inspected his wrist. He had red, hand shaped marks wrapped around it, almost up to his elbow. It would probably leave a bruise. A few dark brown hairs remained in between his fingers. Brushing the hair off on his shorts, he stood up unsteadily and half-walked, half-ran to his house, still trembling.


	2. Chapter 2

ch 2

Richie Tozier lived in the sea. Not by choice, of course. If he could live on the surface, he would. Richie Tozier was a mer (or mermaid, as many humans knew them as) and thus, he would have to settle for his underwater abode. He had an affinity for humans and their culture and often swam along the coasts, watching them in awe. He used the term “watching” loosely, as he couldn’t see them very well. From a distance, humans looked like tall colorful blobs. He could rarely get close enough to get a good look at them because he was scared of getting seen. He would love to be able to talk to a human and ask them all the questions he’d ever had, but he feared what they would do once they saw him. Richie had never seen another mer before, as they were solitary creatures, so he doubted that humans saw them often, if at all.  
As much as Richie loved humans, he was terrified of them. They had these weird things that swam along the surface of the water, faster than any fish he’d ever seen. He knew those things weren’t alive, but how could they move if they couldn’t? Richie called them Floaty-Homes, because some of the larger ones looked similar to human houses, with humans constantly leaving and entering them. There used to be a lot of Floaty-Homes, but not anymore. The ones he did see were huge and carried nets that caught anything in their path. The fish that were unfortunate enough to get snatched up by them never came back alive. He did not want to end up like them. 

Despite his fears, he still had a favorite human. It was one of the little ones that were often accompanies by two large ones, but this one was always alone. It always sat on the sand, just staring at the ocean. Was it looking for something? What was it looking for? These mysteries were why it was Richie’s favorite. Sometimes it sat on the wooden thing that Floaty-Houses used to leave from. It was easier to watch it when it was there; the water was murky and it was more focused on the thing in its lap than the water around it. Richie always tried to spit water at it and liked to see how close he could get to it without it noticing. He was sick of it not paying any attention to what he was doing and spit right at its face. He started laughing, but caught himself and retreated under the wooden structure, still chuckling slightly.   
“That wasn’t very nice, you know!” The human yelled to the seemingly empty area. Richie spat another mouthful of seawater at it and began to laugh even more. He heard footsteps above him and quickly retreated deeper into the water, tail brushing the surface. 

The next morning, Richie waited for the human. The day prior was the most fun he’d had in a while and he wanted to keep it up. As expected, the human came back, but it didn’t settle into its usual spots. It began to speak.  
“Hey, um... I’m that guy you sprayed with water yesterday, uh... I probably look really fucking stupid right now and I doubt that you’re even still here. But could you like, not do that again?” Richie prepared a mouthful of seawater, “My mom got really pissed-“ and spat it at the human, cutting its speech off. He began to laugh again.   
“This isn’t funny, asshole!” The human sounded angry and Richie thought it was fucking hilarious. He quickly spat more water at the human and started to laugh harder than before. His moment of joy was cut short, however, as a hand slammed into the water and out of dumb luck, latched onto his hair.   
“LETGOLETGOLETGO-“ Richie panicked and began to yell. He grabbed the hand with his own, attempting to escape from its grasp. It finally let go and so did Richie. He retreated down to the seafloor, his scalp throbbing and his breathing shaky. A human had seen him. _A human had seen him._ It was probably running back to the other humans to tell them about him and they were going to send Floaty-Homes out to find him and capture him and eat him and-  
Richie curled into a ball on the sand and began to sob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back at it again with the short chapters  
> i just wanted to establish richies perspective and stuff so next chapter im gonna actually advance the plot wow


	3. Chapter 3

The beach was quiet for the next couple days. Eddie kept returning to the dock, despite his experience a few days prior; which could only be likened to something out of a horror movie. He would’ve amounted all of it to a bad dream, but the hand-shaped bruises on his wrist said otherwise.  
“I’m sorry,” Eddie traced his fingers along the weathered wood grain by his feet. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just kinda freaked out. I mean-I still am freaking out.” He paused, “I’m Eddie.” His words were only met by silence and he laughed to himself. “I must look insane right now, just talking to the ocean.” He smiled, “I...I should get going. My mom will kill me if I get home late.” He stood up, brushing off his shorts, and was met with a small splash on his feet in response. 

Eddie returned in the morning, and plopped down in his new favorite spot on the dock. He pulled a small bag off his shoulders.  
“Hey! I brought some snacks. I don’t know what you like so I just grabbed some random stuff.” He reached into the pocket and pulled out a bag of trail mix.   
“There isn’t a lot that wouldn’t get ruined if i put it in the water so my choices were kinda limited,” he chuckled, dropping a couple of each ingredient into the seawater below him. Pale fingers breached the surface to grab the tiny snacks, and Eddie sat back.   
“Do you want some more?” He smiled and dropped a small handful of the trail mix into the water, grabbing a fistful for himself as well. The M&Ms and raisins were quickly pulled out of Eddie’s sight, leaving the others untouched.   
“So you’re a picky eater, huh?” He grinned, mouth slightly full of almonds. “At least now I know what you like.”  
The day continued in silence, with Eddie occasionally scattering the water’s surface with raisins and M&Ms.

The days that followed took a similar path: Eddie would bring his friend(?) some new snacks, and they’d sit in silence together, munching on bags of various foods that he’d picked up from the convenience store on his way to the beachfront.   
He still didn’t know what his new companion was, exactly. It had human hands and hair but always stayed underwater. It liked to eat fruit, chocolate, and meat. Beef jerky was its favorite of everything Eddie had brought so far. As far as he was concerned, he didn’t care what it was unless it tried to eat him, or something. Eddie had friends, of course, but they were closer to each other than they were to him. He’d only recently moved there and felt guilty for forcing himself into the five-some. They were super sweet and it seemed like they liked him, but he wasn’t quite comfortable opening up to them just yet. Ranting to some weird sea creature was better than not ranting at all. He didn’t ever expect a response from it, but after a week, he got one. 

Eddie was talking about a new comic book he’d gotten and was met with a familiar silence. He opened his mouth to start again but was interrupted.  
“Richie,” a voice below him croaked, sounding strained from misuse. Eddie didn’t know how to respond, his vocal cords only letting out a small, stunned squeak.  
“I’m Richie.”  
Eddie gulped, “I-I’m Eddie.”  
“You’ve already told me that.”  
“Oh,” was all he could manage.  
“If I come out,” Richie’s voice shook slightly, “will you hurt me? Or eat me-or some shit? I know humans eat fish, y’know. I know what’ll happen to me if-“  
“I’m not gonna eat you,” Eddie laughed, “I don’t even like fish, and I don’t get what that has to do with you-“  
A head covered in dark hair emerged from the murky water and it (he?) brushed the dripping curls away from its face. He (yeah, probably he) propped his elbows on the dock and stared at Eddie for what felt like hours.  
“Humans are much cuter up close,” Richie laughed, and Eddie felt his face turn red.   
“I-um, I-“  
“Do humans only eat tiny bits of food? What’s it like having legs? Is walking hard-?” Richie reached out to touch Eddie’s legs, and he flinched away. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ve just never talked to a human before and I have SO MANY questions!” He rested his chin on his hands and grinned. Eddie warily inched towards him.   
“Wait, so you-you don’t have legs? Do you have a, like-“ He was interrupted by Richie lifting himself onto the dock, legs dangling off the side-or at least, where his legs should be. In place of them was  
“-a tail.” Eddie stared at Richie’s tail, then up at his smiling face, and then back at his tail. It was a dull gold color, covered in tiny scales that were only barely visible if you were close to it. The way it reflected the sunlight slightly, its sleek and nimble form, it was hard to look away.  
“Yeah, I’m pretty fuckin’ hot, aren’t I, Eds?” Richie laughed and Eddie felt a hot red rise in his cheeks.  
“Don’t call me that! I’ve just never seen a... you before. Are you like a mermaid, or something? A merman?”  
“Just mer. I don’t think a lot of humans have seen us before,” Richie’s smile faded a little. “I mean, I haven’t seen any of us before either.”  
“What about your mom and dad?”  
Richie tilted his head, “What’s a momandad?”  
“Mom and dad,” Eddie enunciated the words slowly. “like your parents. The ones who gave birth to you. And raised you.”  
Richie nodded in understanding. “I don’t really remember them. They just taught me to speak and hunt and shit and then they just... left. That’s a normal thing for mers though, I think.”  
“Oh,” Eddie replied simply, leaving an awkward silence after him.  
“Can I ask you about human shit?” Richie broke the silence, leaning in closer to Eddie. “What’s this stuff?” He tugged at the sleeve of Eddie’s T-shirt. “Is it some weird type of molting or somethin’?”  
“No, it’s like, uh...” He didn’t really know how to explain clothes to someone. “It’s just stuff we wear to... cover up stuff, I guess. It’s also kinda like a symbol of status in a way. Sorry, I’m not sure how to explain it.”   
Richie’s eyes lit up. “Is it for attracting mates?”  
Eddie blushed, “N-no! I mean, sure? To some people, maybe. I’ve never really analyzed the purpose of clothes before.” He laughed nervously.   
“Can I have one?” Richie smiled.  
“I doubt you’d be able to fit into any pants with a, um, a tail, but I could probably find a shirt I don’t wear anymore.”  
The mer cheered, clearly excited. Eddie laughed, amused by Richie’s hype over everyday human items. “I should probably start heading home now,” he gestured behind him.   
“Awww...” Richie pouted. “Where do you live?”  
“The house with the white roof behind the hill. It’s kinda hard to see from here though. Why?”  
He shrugged, “Dunno. Just curious. You’ll be back tomorrow, right?”  
Eddie nodded, “Yeah, of course. See you then, fishboy.”  
Richie flashed a grin at him and waved.

Eddie began the walk up the dunes, half convinced that the events of that day were a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiiiiii im not dead whats up  
> theres probably only gonna be a couple more chapters but i might write a sequel if theres interest in that (i already have an idea for it lol)


End file.
